AD SPEND JUMPS 7 PER CENT IN OCTOBER

Total advertising spending in Thailand saw a 7 per cent year-on-year increase according to research released today by Nielsen Thailand.
While spending on newspapers showed a modest 0.7 per cent increase - the first this year - spending on magazines dropped a massive 22.5 per cent. Indeed magazines are now ranked fourth in terms of market share behind television (up 11.53 per cent year-on-year), radio (down 7.2 per cent) and cinema (up 59.2 per cent).
The sector which saw the biggest growth was Internet. Spending has grown 81.2 per cent year-on-year, and in October it accounted for 29 million baht in advertising spend - still a fraction of the 4.9 billion baht that goes to television, the 1.28 billion baht devoted to newspapers and the 440 million which goes to magazines.
I would be wary of reading too much into these year-on-year figures because the comparison is being made with a time when Thailand was in the midst of political instability.
In the 10 months ending October 31, total advertising spend was down 1.46 per cent compared to the same time frame in 2008. In those comparisons newspapers are showing a 10.1 per cent decline whereas magazines are down 11.9 per cent. Biggest gainers are Internet (up 31.3 per cent), transit (up 30.4 per cent) and cinema (up 14.5 per cent).